TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- Sarah Patterson was just getting the Alabama gymnastics program off the ground when she tapped Greg Marsden for some advice that would ultimately prove to be incredibly simple, yet completely helpful.

In the early 1980s, Marsden, who has served as Utah's coach for the past 38 years, had his program where Patterson -- now in her 35th season with the Crimson Tide -- wanted hers. The Utes, winners of 10 national titles overall, won the first of six consecutive national championships starting in 1981.

Patterson's question went beyond wins and losses. She wanted the success Utah had, sure, but she also wanted the kind of following the Utes attracted.

Sarah Patterson watches intently waiting to learn which teams she will be competing against during Alabama's Gymnastics regional bracket show, Monday, March 25, 2013, at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

"He was the one that said that to me, 'You can either win one or you can host one,'" Patterson said. "He had the foresight that they were hosting nationals almost every year.
If you go back and look at their record, they were hosting all the
time. And they were winning a lot, too. I think that kind of helped
create their fanbase as well.

"It was definitely words for wisdom that he had to me as we were trying to build our program."

Patterson followed that advice to the tune of six national championships, the first coming in 1991 and the last two coming in the past two seasons. The people came, too, as Alabama has consistently drawn more than 10,000 fans per meet for years and notched an average of 13,422 fans at its five home meets in 2013.

It's why Utah, the nation's leaders in home meet attendance, should feel right at home in tonight's NCAA Regional at Coleman Coliseum. And it's why Utah and Alabama are a fitting pair of favorites at the six-team meet, which begins at 6 p.m.

"There are so many similarities between our programs and our style," Marsden said. "Both
of us it was a husband-wife combination. We've coached with our spouses
our whole careers.

"We both want to be competitive on the floor, but we
also take a great deal of pride in building an audience and a following
for gymnastics, both on our campuses and everywhere. I think our
passions are very similar."

Alabama and Utah, which won its last national championship in 1995, will be joined by No. 15 Denver, No. 23 Kent State, BYU and Iowa State. The top two scoring teams advance to the April 19-20 NCAA Championships in Los Angeles.

It would be historically significant if it the Utes and Crimson Tide weren't the top two teams to emerge from the Tuscaloosa regional. Alabama has advanced to 30 consecutive national championships and won 27 regionals during that stretch. Utah hasn't missed a single national championship since the NCAA began hosting them in 1982.

Geography-related logistics have kept the teams from frequently competing in dual meets, but familiarity was established decades ago because of the teams' annual meeting at NCAAs.

Alabama and Utah are two of just four teams to win a national title in gymnastics. Patterson and Marsden are two of just four coaches to accomplish the feat.

"Utah is definitely always in the mix for the national championship," Alabama senior Ashley Sledge said. "They're always someone to look for at the end
of the year."

Smiles crossed the faces of Marsden and Patterson when they reflected upon the times when hosting a regional was so much work that it became difficult to find time to coach.

"Years ago, I would have been directing everything," Patterson said. "When we used to host the national championship, I was running around and doing all kinds of stuff. That's changed over the years."

The rise of college gymnastics -- boosted in large part by Patterson's and Marsden's programs -- has allowed most host teams to put an event like today's in the hands of many, many others and let the coaches do what they do best.

"We had to kind of teach people about gymnastics and how to run meets and
things," Marsden said. "Now,
our staffs have become so supportive, both at our place and here, they
just do it. They know what they're doing and take pride in what they do
and how they do it and we trust them to do that for us.

"It takes a large
burden of responsibility off our shoulders and allows us to really
focus on our teams."